Tournan Hive Drone
A 'Tournan Hive Drone '''is a member of the race of insectoid beings that operate the Tournan Hive Ship mk II. There are many types of Hive Drone, but none of them really deserve their own article. Meet the Drones Each Hive Drone enjoys a psychic connection to the Hive Ship. It allows the Hive to coordinate them, and provide guidance. The downside to this is that roughly none of them are capable of direct verbal communication, which makes it extremely difficult for anyone not connected to the psychic network to access the kind of information needed to understand them at all, or even a little bit. All Tournan Hive Drones are eukaryotes. Taxonomic kingdoms represented by the Drones include ''Animalia, Fungi (arguably), ''Amoebozoa'', and Plantae. Animal-Like Drones Animal-Like Drones make up the majority of all Drones. As it were, all of them are arthropods. Scuttle Drones Representing the class Trilobita, and similar in appearance to the extinct earth-creature known as the Trilobite, the Scuttle Drones are very true to their name. Their Hive-given task is to roam all around the ship munching on filth. Their main purpose is to keep the Hive's energy-producing lobes in working order, but there got to be so many of them that the grit on the high-voltage membranes of the lobes alone could not sustain the species, so they became nomadic. Scuttle Drones vary in size from small enough to fit in your pocket to large enough for a group of up to five people to ride from place to place -- even the other Drones occasionally hitch a ride on their mostly oblivious kin. Arachnid-Like Drones Spider-Like Drones Spider Drones Spider Drones are unusual. Besides having one eye and being blue and fuzzy, they are tasked with eating the things that are too big and not-grit-like for the Scuttle Drones to handle. They also aid the Pycno Drones in tending and caring for any external hull wounds the Hive. To fullfill this role, they often spin tough webbing over the opening. They also tend to station themselves on the exterior of the hull and stubbornly guard the laceration despite not having the same space-faring capabilities as their Pycno brethren. As such, they are very loyal to their Hive. Spider Drones will often succeed in subduing a (simulated) threat before the designated security drones, to the point where researchers on the Hive actually thought they ''were ''the security drones until Tourny joined the psychic network and learned otherwise. From a psysiological stand point, Spider Drones come in two sizes. One is up to your knees and brushes against your legs in hallways, and the other is up to your shoulders and brushes against your entire body wherever the Lysosome Drones fail to prevent them from going. The bite from a Spider Drone is paralytic. Research into an antitode is underway, but so far the only medical treatment that works is the watch-and-wait method. Harvester Drones The Harvester Drones are fairly docile. Their job is to crall around the ship carrying things. Their original duty was only to transport suitable flora to the Hive's nurseries to be consumed, or to the lobes to be recycled, but the other members of the work force expanded their quota upon discovering that their docility masks a strength greater than even the enhanced strength of a drone. These Drones are again dimorphic. One variety is smaller, about up to your knees, and more suited to hall-trawling, while the other towers over shuttle craft. Harvester Drones have no eyes, and are thus blind. However, when observed they appear completely capable of sight. One theory is that they simply use other Drones to see. This was tested by putting a few in a room without any other variety of Drone, but the results were not conclusive, as almost all other Drones will turn up positive for most conventional blindness tests, despite being able to see. Scorpion Drones